Brown failed to renew Labour, says Milliband
David Milliband, leadership candidate for the Labour Party accused former Prime Minister Gordon Brown of failing in his promise to restore public confidence in Labour through his public relations. He claimed Mr Brown lacked the ’moral crusade'to win public support during his quest to solve the banks crisis and urged Labour to renew its political morality and to promote a more open, honest conduct in the future.
Speaking at the Keir Hardie lecture in Mountain Ash in the valleys of South Wales, Milliband said that Labour had lost the trust of the British people and that this was a serious problem for a government of a democracy. The leftwing MP John Cruddas, who had considered standing up for the party leadership bid said that Milliband’s speech was ’the most important speech'made by a Labour MP for many years, although he stopped short of endorsing anyone for the leadership challenge.
In regards to the Brown years, Milliband said that he supported Brown when he desperately tried to instil change in Britain after 10 years of Blair. He also agreed with his efforts to reduce child poverty and inequalities and the need for party reform, as well as his attitudes to global initiatives such as the G8 and G20 summits. However, Milliband stated that Labour lacked ’democratic discussion'and made families feel like ’consumers’, rather than ’partners'of a welfare state. He also complained that under Labour, the Treasury did not enact enough reforms in order to save the banks during the recession, claiming that they had not reinvested in the country.
The Brown government was plagued by the economic slowdown and the subsequent global financial crisis, which sealed Labour’s fate as it struggled to deal with the impacts of the recession.
Milliband also warns of the new Tories'plans to establish a ’bigger society’. He believes that a ’big society'depends on the mutual efforts of both the state and the individual to work towards a common goal. He believes that the greater the role of local communities and voluntary organisations, the greater the role the government has in supporting such groups and providing them with the necessary funds to continue their services.
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